Two from Lucchese Crime Family Sentenced For Criminal Gambling Enterprise

By Paul Nichols

Thursday, Oct 01, 2015

Acting Attorney General John J.
Hoffman announced that Matthew Madonna, a ruling boss of the New York-based
Lucchese crime family, was sentenced to state prison as a result of Operation
Heat, an investigation by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice that
uncovered an international criminal gambling enterprise that transacted
billions of dollars in wagers, primarily on sporting events, and relied on
extortion and violence to collect debts.

Madonna, 79, of Seldon, N.Y., a member of the
three-man ruling panel of the Lucchese crime family, was sentenced yesterday,
Sept. 30, to five years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto
in Morris County. Madonna pleaded guilty
on June 17 to a charge of second-degree racketeering. Madonna controlled the family’s gambling
operations and other criminal activities from New York. A second member of the
crime family’s ruling panel, Joseph DiNapoli, 80, of Scarsdale, N.Y., allegedly
controlled those operations and activities with him. Charges are pending against DiNapoli.

The former New Jersey underboss for the
Lucchese crime family, Martin Taccetta, 64, of East Hanover, N.J., also was sentenced
yesterday. Judge Ahto sentenced Taccetta
to eight years in state prison. Taccetta
already was serving a sentence of life in state prison plus 10 years as a
result of a Division of Criminal Justice prosecution in the 1990s. He pleaded guilty to first-degree
racketeering on June 17.

Four other Lucchese crime family members,
including the top New Jersey capo, Ralph V. Perna, pleaded guilty to
first-degree racketeering on June 17 and are awaiting sentencing. Perna, 69, of
East Hanover, N.J., faces a recommended sentence of eight years in prison; his
sons Joseph M. Perna, 45, of Wyckoff, N.J. and John G. Perna, 38, of West
Calwell, N.J., face recommended sentences of 10 years in prison; and John
Mangrella, 72, of Clifton, N.J., faces a recommended sentence of eight years in
prison.

Assistant Attorney General
Christopher Romanyshyn, Deputy Director of the Division of Criminal Justice, is
prosecuting the defendants for the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.

“Through our far-reaching investigation into
this multi-billion dollar criminal gambling enterprise, we built a racketeering
case that extended to the top bosses of the Lucchese crime family in New York,”
said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “By putting Madonna in prison, we send a
powerful message that we are committed to combating organized crime in the most
effective way possible, which is to target the leadership ranks and disrupt the
command structure of these criminal organizations.”

“Sending this New York-based mob boss to New
Jersey State Prison represents another major milestone for the New Jersey
Division of Criminal Justice in its decades-long tradition of fighting
organized crime,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal
Justice. “As long as these crime
families maintain their corrosive presence in New Jersey, we’ll investigate
them and put them behind bars.”

Judge Ahto has scheduled sentencing for Ralph
Perna, Joseph Perna and John Perna for Jan. 7, 2016. Mangrella had been scheduled for sentencing
yesterday, but he is being rescheduled.

The defendants were initially charged and
arrested in Operation Heat in December 2007.
The investigation uncovered an international criminal enterprise that,
according to records seized, transacted an estimated $2.2 billion in wagers,
primarily on sporting events, during a 15-month period. The gambling operation received and processed
the wagers using password-protected websites and a Costa Rican “wire room”
where bets were recorded and results tallied.

The gambling operation involved agents or
“package holders,” each of whom brought in bets from a group of gamblers. The
enterprise and all of its packages involved hundreds or even thousands of
gamblers. Records showed that one high-rolling gambler wagered more than $2
million in a two-month period. The
illicit proceeds were divided by the package holders and the members they
worked under, such as the Pernas and Tacetta, who in turn made “tribute”
payments to the New York bosses, including Madonna and DiNapoli. Collection operations at times took the form
of threats or acts of violence.

The investigation also uncovered a scheme in
which a former New Jersey corrections officer and a high-ranking member of the
Nine Trey Gangsters set of the Bloods street gang entered into an alliance with
the Lucchese crime family to smuggle drugs and pre-paid cell phones into East
Jersey State Prison.

The prison smuggling scheme allegedly involved
inmate Edwin B. Spears and a former corrections officer at East Jersey State
Prison in Woodbridge, Michael T. Bruinton.
Spears was at East Jersey State Prison at the time of the alleged
conduct. It is charged that Edwin
Spears, an admitted “five-star general” in the Nine Trey Gangsters set of the
Bloods, formed an alliance with Joseph Perna and another defendant from the
Lucchese crime family, now deceased, to smuggle drugs and cell phones into East
Jersey State Prison through Bruinton.
The alliance allegedly extended beyond smuggling. In one instance, Joseph Perna sought
assistance from Spears to stop an individual associated with the Bloods from
extorting money from a man with ties to the Lucchese family. The charges are pending against Spears and
Bruinton. Several other defendants were
charged in that scheme.

Assistant Attorney General Romanyshyn and
former Assistant Attorney General Mark Eliades presented the case to the state
grand jury. Deputy Chief of Detectives
Christopher Donohue and Detective Patrick Sole of the Gangs & Organized
Crime Bureau were lead detectives for the case, under the supervision of Chief
of Detectives Paul Morris. Sgt. Noelle
Holl was the principal detective for the financial portion of the case. Acting
Attorney General Hoffman also credited former Acting Supervising State
Investigator James Sweeney and the following Detectives: Sgt. Audrey Young, Ho
Chul Shin, Lt. Brian Bruton, Mario Estrada, Richard DaSilva, and John
Delesio. He credited the New Jersey
State Police Intelligence Section for their assistance. He further thanked Auditor Thaedra Chebra of
the Division of Taxation’s Office of Criminal Investigation, Detective Andrew
Varga of the New York City Police Department and members of the Manhattan
District Attorney’s Office who provided assistance.